Confused about Ram!

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8 Jan 2007
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169
Hiya Guys

I am on the verge of getting a new E8400 CPU, P35 motherboard, and an 8800GTS 512mb GPU.

I want to overclock my CPU to 4GHz, as this seems like a nice round number.
And I think the Thermalright 120 Extreme cooler will cool well.

My question is this. What Ram do I get?
Whats all this nonsense about timing and stuff.

And how does the ram I choose affect the CPU overclock?

I was going to get 4gb 800mhz ram. Probably crucial...

Cheers for any advice!
DB
 
basically you want the fastest ram that your mobo will allow :D

pc8500 is normally the best bet unless you are ona budget whereby geil pc6400 is just as good.
 
yeah, I was looking at the Geil Ram. 4GB of it.

I've read somewhere that it may stop me overclocking my CPU past a certain point though?

I'm new to overclocking, so I am not sure why. But i'd rather order the good stuff right off, so I know I can overclock the CPU to 4ghz...
 
how far you can overclock your cpu will depend on 3 things, your cpu, your motherboard and your ram. check the forum for similar systems i.e. overclocking your cpu and see how far people have gone with your cpu and then see what ram they used :)
 
ddr2 800mhz ram is much cheaper and you can get 4gb of it for £60. ddr2 1066 is not worth the premium over it, just in case you are thinking of buying the fastest stuff around.
 
6400 memory runs at 400mhz. The e8400 has a muliplier of 9x. That means for overclocking, if you ran 9x400 (3.6gh) and you use the 1:1 ram divider (the lowest) your ram will be at its rated 400mhz. Past this and you are overclocking the memory aswell, you cant divide the memory any lower. If you wanted the CPU at 4ghz then you would have to run 444x9. To do this your memory would HAVE to run at 444mhz. So basically you could end up with a CPU capable of 4ghz+ and memory that won't let it run past about 3.8. that make sense?
 
You would be better of getting the 8500 memory or getting a CPU with a x10 multi. The e8400 are new so hard to say what overclock you could get. The worst that could happen would be you had a CPU that would do 4.5ghz:eek: (would probably be lower) and memory that wouldn't let you run past 3.7ghz (probably be higher). Its more likely to be a smaller gap than that but gives you an idea.
 
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